From Pyeongchang, KOR
Feb. 20, 2018 – As it’s been for the bulk of the Olympics, the racing at the Olympic Sliding Center is tight going into the third heat of women’s bobsled. With just .07 between them, Mariama Jamanka leads Elana Meyers Taylor, while a handful of women sit just outside the gold medal battle.
Jamanka came into her second run just .02 behind Meyers Taylor. Jamanka’s run was just a little bit cleaner, and it was enough to put her ahead of the 2017 World Champion.
Behind them, Stephanie Schneider sits in third, with both Jamie Greubel Poser (.02 behind Schneider) and Kaillie Humphries (.04 behind) breathing down her neck.
Meyers Taylor and brakewoman Lauren Gibbs broke the existing start record in the first run, and then went a hundredth faster in the second run. While the start records are nice, Gibbs won’t be happy until after tomorrow’s race.
“The job’s not done yet. It’s not time to look at what I’ve done, it’s time to look at what more can we do going into tomorrow.”
Mica McNeill rounds out the top six, despite not having nearly as many runs on the track as many of her competitors. She credits that to her extra focus during the Olympics.
“Not having been here and having such little time on the track, I have to be so focused. I’m not comfortable here, and I think it keeps me on my toes.”
Canadians Alysia Rissling and Christine de Bruin sit in seventh and eighth going into the second run. Rissling, who finished third in the World Cup test event in 2017, was happy with her run but sees a chance to move up.
“I have things that went wrong in both of my first runs,” Rissling said. “I have some things I can clean up for the third run. Little things got better on the second run, but I’m overall happy with my race.”
The big mover in the first heat was Christina Hengster, who used one of the cleanest runs in the second heat to move up the order from 14th to 10th.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Mariama Jamanka / Lisa Buckwitz | GER | 6 | 50.54 | 50.72 | 1:41.26 |
| 2 | Elana Meyers Taylor / Lauren Gibbs | USA | 5 | 50.52 | 50.81 | 1:41.33 |
| 3 | Stephanie Schneider / Annika Drazek | GER | 8 | 50.63 | 50.93 | 1:41.56 |
| 4 | Jamie Greubel Poser / Aja Evans | USA | 7 | 50.59 | 50.99 | 1:41.58 |
| 5 | Kaillie Humphries / Phylicia George | CAN | 4 | 50.72 | 50.88 | 1:41.60 |
| 6 | Mica McNeill / Mica Moore | GBR | 17 | 50.77 | 50.95 | 1:41.72 |
| 7 | Alysia Rissling / Heather Moyse | CAN | 9 | 50.81 | 50.95 | 1:41.76 |
| 8 | Christine de Bruin / Melissa Lotholz | CAN | 13 | 50.94 | 50.91 | 1:41.85 |
| 9 | Sabina Hafner / Rahel Rebsamen | SUI | 12 | 50.86 | 51.16 | 1:42.02 |
| 10 | Christina Hengster / Valerie Kleiser | AUT | 14 | 51.23 | 51.04 | 1:42.27 |
| 11 | Elfje Willemsen / Sara Aerts | BEL | 15 | 51.03 | 51.27 | 1:42.30 |
| 12 | Anna Köhler / Erline Nolte | GER | 10 | 51.21 | 51.20 | 1:42.41 |
| 13 | Yooran Kim / Minseong Kim | KOR | 1 | 51.24 | 51.20 | 1:42.44 |
| 14 | Nadezhda Sergeeva / Anastasia Kocherzhova | OAR | 11 | 51.01 | 51.49 | 1:42.50 |
| 15 | An Vannieuwenhuyse / Sophie Vercruyssen | BEL | 20 | 51.24 | 51.28 | 1:42.52 |
| 16 | Maria Adela Constantin / Andreea Grecu | ROU | 19 | 51.17 | 51.40 | 1:42.57 |
| 17 | Aleksandrda Rodionova / Yulia Belomestnykh | OAR | 3 | 51.29 | 51.47 | 1:42.76 |
| 18 | Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian / Carrie Russell | JAM | 18 | 51.29 | 51.50 | 1:42.79 |
| 19 | Katrin Beierl / Victoria Hahn | AUT | 16 | 51.49 | 51.41 | 1:42.90 |
| 20 | Seun Adigun / Akuoma Omeoga | NGR | 2 | 52.21 | 52.55 | 1:44.76 |
